Ingenjör Andrées luftfärd(Ingeniør Andrées luftferd)
(The Flight of the Eagle)
Sweden-W. Germany-Norway (1982): Adventure/Drama
On 11 July 1897, engineer Salomon August Andrée set off with companions Nils Strindberg and Knut Frænkel to reach the North Pole in a hydrogen ballon named "Örnen" ("Eagle"). They had already made a failed attempt the previous year. Now adverse wind conditions force them to discharge ballast and soon the balloon can no longer be steered. The men refuse to give up, but when the winds die down and the heavy ice clings to the balloon, the "Eagle" crashes, after 65 hours in the air.
The three explorers head in the direction of Franz Josef Land. However, they underestimate the movement of the ice and after a three-month odyssey they eventually reach the uninhabited isle of Kvitoya (White Island), where they plan to spend the winter. It becomes their icy grave. Thirty-three years later, their remains are found, partly eaten by polar bears. Their diaries and photographs bear witness to their suffering. Was the expedition naive and poorly planned? Did Andrée realize that it would end in death?
The cast features Max von Sydow as S.A. Andrée, Sverre Anker Ousdal as Knut Frænkel, and Göran Stangertz as Nils Strindberg. In 1983 The Flight of the Eagle was nominated for an Oscar® as Best Foreign Film. In 1997, Eagle director Jan Troell returned to the topic in his documentary En Frusen Dröm (A Frozen Dream). (US distributor: Summit, subtitled, 1983) (luebeck.de)
1 nomination
· Foreign Language Film Award 1982: (Sweden) (Jörn Donner, producer)